Early in their retirement, my mother and father wrote autobiographies of a sort. 122 and 177 typed pages respectively, neither is a literary gem, but each reflects the personality of its author and is full of stories and recollections that are a wonderful link to the past.  While mostly telling family stories, world events appear in both narratives, none more so than the Second World War.

I thought of my parents and their stories of the end of the war as some people think maybe we have come to a possible end of the pandemic.  Even if it is the end, it doesn’t look as if we’ll have any Victory over Covid celebrations.

My mother had graduated from college a year earlier, and in May 1945, was living in New York City with some of her college friends.  They had found an apartment on the Upper Westside.  She tells the story of her May 7, V-E, Victory in Europe, Day: We all rode the subway down to Times Square where a milling mass of humanity was celebrating. Then we went to Radio City and got tickets to the Perry Como Show.  There he was sitting on his stool singing about when the lights go on all over the world. We took the Staten Island Ferry across the harbor and saw the Statue of Liberty lighted up for the first time since the war had begun.

My father was a Navy officer serving in the Mediterranean. He writes, Rumors began to spread that the war in Europe was soon coming to a conclusion, and that our ship would be returned to the States, converted into a rocket ship and sent to the Pacific War…All ships present began to prepare to leave the Mediterranean. We joined a large convoy and headed west. We passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and soon pulled into port in the Azores.

For my mother and the milling mass in Times Square on May 7, their war was over, even though everyone knew there would be more death in the Pacific.  For my father and those on the ships of the convoy sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar, the voyage west across the Atlantic was just a pause before their war resumed.  Of course, it was more complicated than that, and my parents knew it at the time.  They speak briefly about V-J day, but at the time they were planning a wedding. They were married in October 1945.

V-E Day and V-J Day (when the famous “kiss” photo was taken in Times Square). They were markers, mileposts, in the story of their lives told by my mother and my father.

I’ve wondered about writing something about the story of my life; something for our children and grandchildren to read some day. I’m not sure what I would say.  Or if my own children or grandchildren would be interested in reading what I might write.  I will keep thinking about it.

If I write the story of my life, I may mention Covid-19 and our year of the pandemic, but there will be no story of a V-C Day celebration.

Is it over? Did we win? Who knows?  We can’t agree on a definition of “over” or “win,” so hold the fireworks.  For lawn sign liberals, it’s no longer a matter of trusting science, even if the scientists say it may be over. We’ll wear our masks at Whole Foods until Jesus returns. Except we don’t believe that is going to happen. The part about Jesus, not the part about masks at Whole Foods. For MAGA hat conservatives, it never was a matter of science, even when the scientists told us this was serious stuff, and friends and family members died. We’ve been cheating on mask-wearing at Wal-Mart for over a year now.

No one knows if the pandemic is over, though the signs (for the U.S.) are pointing in the right direction. But even if we could or should celebrate, we won’t because we’re too divided about masks and vax and everything else. Too bad, because we could use a party about now.

When Moses and the children of Israel got to the other side of the Red Sea, they had a big V-P Day party. Victory over Pharaoh Day. Miriam played her tambourine, and all the women sang songs. Little did they know it would be forty years until they reached that land flowing with milk and honey.  The text in Exodus 15 seems to indicate the party was a good idea, anyway.

We’ll never agree on when or if to have our V-C Day party.  That’s too bad.

For now, why not get vaxxed and take off the mask once in a while. It may not be a party, but it is the right thing to do.